Ventra readers working again after server glitch

Ventra readers were up and running Wednesday evening after a server error affected 165 readers at 60 stations, the CTA said.

The readers were not accepting Ventra cards for anywhere between 15 and 90 minutes starting at 4:30 p.m., CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said.

The CTA blamed a server failure, which had an "intermittent rippling effect," Chase said. Technicians were dispatched to stations and the system was rebooted.

The CTA said it would bill Cubic, the Ventra vendor, for 15,000 free rides but the agency still is calculating costs.

Ventra, the new CTA fare payment system, was supposed to replace Chicago Cards and magnetic strip cards by Dec. 15, but the agency announced last week it is slowing the transition to Ventra because of glitches ranging from long customer service waits to slow mailings of cards.